Startups often struggle to find a healthy balance between becoming and staying relevant, with marketing and sales, and competition and growth. Their efforts and struggle, while not necessarily always logical, is usually understandable. However, one cannot extend a similar courtesy of understanding to large corporate giants in mature sectors who miss the forest for the…
For years, I’ve enjoyed sending free, no-strings-attached ideas to companies in various sectors; a practice I called, “RattL ’em”; and subsequently, “…thank me later.” Just a small way of contributing to customer-centric innovation and striving to be among the best. Here’s an idea for OTT platforms that create original series: Many web series today feel…
I have always found the pillar and ceiling design at the Terminal 2 airport in Mumbai (pic) very beautiful. While there are other designs that use sunlight in even better ways, these structures are wow. And yesterday, I came across this clip (link) about Tatami, traditional Japanese floor mats, that I thought was similarly fascinating….
A few months ago, I had posted about the concerning design of the current lot of cars, with their sheer vertical drop fronts. I was recently lucky to spot an old Honda Civic in a basement parking lot, and this photo shows side by side, the aerodynamic and generally safer sloping front of the Honda…
When designing products or experiences for customers who might be less privileged compared to you, a lot of people attempt to try and think of what life might be like for them in general, and specifically about how they work around the challenge statement. And often, they do this from meeting rooms and offices, well…
A feature I have found much needed but missing across practically all e-commerce and DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) brand websites and apps is the ability to be able to paste a web-link to a product listing in the search bar and locate the product. Imagine a scenario where, you are on your phone browser searching for a…
“As a leader, you have to show up. You’ve got to conduct business reviews. You can’t be detached and removed and absent. When you go to an operation and you run a review of the business, the people may not like what you tell them, but they will say, “At least he cares enough about…
Not sure if this is a more common pattern, but it has been my observation at least with regard to a bunch of friends who are active on Instagram that they have considerably reduced posts, but their reels (guessing that’s the 24 hour ones?) might have gone up a bit. I’m not sure if they…
I recently watched the 2006 political action thriller, ‘The Sentinel.’ It had a character follow this practice that is old, obvious and practical, but is hardly used nowadays. In the movie, a senior Secret Service agent tasked with managing the US President’s movement from point A to point B, (obviously) has two or three options…
Part 4 was about how we should proactively try to improve or disrupt where necessary, the inefficient parts of the sector or space we work in. And now, arguably the most valuable lesson I was taught, something that ties up all previous learnings. In 2015, I had first stumbled upon design thinking when I signed…
Part 4 of a series of posts aimed at young professionals. The world is getting increasingly confusing. Here are some of my learnings. In the last post (here), I mentioned the need for taking bold/ tough decisions. And the benefits they bring. And that you can’t usually create your best work from a place of…
Back in the day when batteries in remote controls ran low, they would be working one moment and not the next, right? Apparently though, based on how different remotes are designed and how power is distributed, different buttons and functions are affected differently when power starts running low. I noticed this over the weekend when…
Part 3 of a series of posts aimed at young professionals. The world is getting increasingly confusing. Here are some of my learnings. Previous post here. As an innovation and strategy consultant, I have had the occasional prospect haggle over fees from day one. When one of the first prospects reached out within days of…
There are brilliant behavioural science wizards across the world unfortunately employed with companies that have them busy finding behavioural science tactics to quickly build trust among customers. And maybe it works sometimes. To my knowledge though, the cleanest way to build trust, is to go with trustworthy intentions, and be absolutely transparent in matters. What…
Our present realities can get very grey with information overload, misinformation, and fake news. Which is why this news from last week was so interesting. In the recent Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, supporters and politicians from parties that lost, claimed the electronic voting machines were rigged. Some cited electronic voting machines suspiciously did not lose…